Sheldon Adelson, casino mogul who made big bets on Trump and Netanyahu, dies at 87

FILE PHOTO: Las Vegas Sands Corp Chairman and Chief Executive Sheldon Adelson attends a news conference on the opening of Parisian Macao in Macau, China September 13, 2016. REUTERS/Bobby Yip/

(Reuters) - Combative self-made billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who assembled the world's largest casino empire and used his fortune to nurture conservative politicians and policies in the United States and Israel, has died at age 87.

The American casino mogul, raised in a poor Jewish immigrant family in Boston as the son of a cab driver, established lavish hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore, and headed the world's largest casino company, Las Vegas Sands Corp.